Guild Wars 2 Blog

Over the course of playing GW2 something that I have found to be of significance is that looking at a game through a GRSJ lens completely changed the gaming experience for me. Although, analyzing any piece of work tends to have that effect. When I am gaming outside of the classroom there are certainly things I notice about the games I play. However, analyzing GW2 made me aware of things I might have otherwise missed such as the theme of colonialism. It is to the point Dr. Stewart made in class, if we analyze everything from a critical lens there will be nothing left to enjoy. However, we must critique sometimes in order to garner a better understanding and for that opportunity I am thankful for this course. The blog posts in particular were quite useful in looking critically at GW2.    

Something that I was not aware of was the World Health Organization’s decision to declare gaming disorder to its International Classification of Diseases (ICD). They define gaming disorder “as a pattern of gaming behavior (“digital-gaming” or “video-gaming”) characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences” (WHO, 2018). I support their decision, and approve of their definition. Additionally, I believe that too much of anything can be a bad thing. As soon as something starts having a negative impact on your daily life it is a problem. On their website they also mention that “studies suggest that gaming disorder affects only a small proportion of people who engage in digital- or video-gaming activities” (WHO, 2018). I am glad that this problem is being brought to awareness, and the people who need help are being provided with adequate treatment options. Since it is a problem that does not affect many people it can be harder to identify and provide adequate support and treatment. WHO recognizes this, and that is one of the reasons they decided to declare gaming disorder in the ICD. Even though WHO did this, there is still the possibility of people not taking it seriously, but this was a step in the right direction. Their website did not specify exactly how many people are affected by this condition, and I wonder about this because there are many people who do not have access to video games. This disorder certainly only affects a certain portion of the population, and I think it is important to be conscious of that.    

References:

Gaming disorder. (2018, September 14). Retrieved March 31, 2019, from https://www.who.int/features/qa/gaming-disorder/en/

As Dr. Stewart says “the debate about the short and long-term psychological effects of video game violence on players’ aggression levels is long-standing ongoing debate, and no closer to a resolution than when it began.” I believe that the effects vary on the individual level. It is very possible that people who are already aggressive, naturally gravitate towards aggressive video games. Most of the things I do in video games, I would not dream of doing in real life. The reason for this is because video games are simply not real. They are a virtual reality, and an escape from your lived reality. Most of the video games I have played over my lifetime involve violence, which is something I do not condone in real life. However, it can be fun in the right context; especially when you win and advance in the game. 

In the context of GW2, I did not enjoy using violence because it mostly ended in my opponent dying. At the beginning of the game I had to kill many animals such as spiders for no reason other than they were a nuisance for the residents of that particular dwelling. I definitely did not enjoy fighting the centaurs, but it was do or die. If you did not kill them, they would kill you and you would not advance in the game. However, they had every right to be angry as my character’s species had taken their land from them. If I am fighting someone “bad” in a game it is easier to justify it, but in real life I do not think I have the right to serve justice through the form of violence.

Additionally, there was a part of the game where I broke into a man’s home because I believed he committed treason. That is not something I would do in real life nor would I participate in the trial by combat that ensued as it is not a legitimate form of justice. For the most part it does not matter to me what I do in video games, but I do believe we have to draw the line somewhere. This prompt made me think of the discussion we had in class surrounding dolls that you could rape. I would not commit such an act in a video game, much less in real life. I think your intentions play an important role in the acts that you commit. The criminal justice system agrees, which is why we have the mens rea aspect of crimes. 

One of the problems we have discussed in class regarding Guild Wars 2 is the presumption that players already know how to play the game. There is no demo at the beginning. Instead, you are thrust into the game with nothing to cushion your fall. In these instances I believe it is crucial to make use of out-of-game resources. I did so with GW2 and other games I have played in the past as well. I believe these resources can be informative and the people who created them are helpful members of the community. I definitely do not think it is cheating. It is the same as asking someone in person to help you with a game. It is a way to gather information and learn about something that you may not have a lot of experience with. To relate it to an academic example, it is the same as making use of a writing centre at your university for your papers. 

I do not engage with players in any games, unless they are friends or family, and the reason for this is, as Reich puts so eloquently, there is a “collective human tendency to allow the worst of ourselves to emerge under the anonymity of the Internet” (Parkin, 2015). In my opinion, that is one of the biggest problems with the internet. People tend to hide behind their screens, and say whatever they are afraid to say in person. For this reason I chose to not engage with other players unless I know their identity. 

However, this is a personal choice and for those who choose to engage with other players they can make use of the ‘report player’ function in chat if they encounter any negative or uncomfortable behaviour. I have never used this before, but I think there is always the chance of it being misused and being taken advantage of. I hope that its benefits outweigh any negative consequences. At the end of the day, this function is better than having no support at all.   

Personally, I have never engaged in trolling or left a negative comment online, and I cannot begin to fathom those that do. If you would not say it in person, you definitely should not say it online. As Reich says “toxic behavior doesn’t necessarily come from terrible people; it comes from regular people having a bad day” (Parkin, 2015). It can be easy to forget that the users you are interacting with online are real people with feelings. It may seem better to take out your frustration on someone you cannot see, but you are hurting someone nonetheless. Putting aside the trolls and toxicity of the internet for a moment, it is also important to acknowledge that the internet can be a wonderful and helpful space. 

When I was younger, I used to play many different video games. However, something that they all had in common was the compelling narrative. For me, the most important part of a video game is the narrative. I did not find the GW2 narrative compelling, but it did make it more interesting to play. I found the GW2 narrative to be generic compared to other video games I have played in the past. The visual media was not stimulating, and neither were the words. I believe they could have put more effort in it. As I have discussed in my past blog posts the game is a recycled version of real life colonialism. The Charr could be based on Indigenous people, and the rest of the players could be based on European settlers. There are some amazing video games out there incorporating social justice, and I think this games falls short in that aspect. One of the video games I used to play was Assassin’s Creed, and it was recently made into a movie. This was done because the narrative of the video game is one the main components that gets the player hooked. I have previously played video games based on T.V. shows as well such as Naruto. For this reason I would not watch any other media form of GW2.   

Something that I thought was interesting was that although GW2 offers a range of skin tones for your character to chose from, all of the NPCs I encountered were caucasian. Although at first glance GW2 may seem inclusionary, upon looking closer you will find that, that is not the case. However, it does seem to be inclusionary to men and women. The NPCs that I encountered were both men and women, and the roles the women were in were not stereotypical ones you would find in most video games such as the love interest or damsel in distress. 

Another aspect I want to point out was there is the assumption that my character is heterosexual, and that I am a female. In one of my narratives my friend, Lord Faren flirts with my character. It made me wonder what my narrative would have been like if I had picked a male character, or if I had been a male who picked a female character. 

I believe video games can have different layers, and it can be interesting to study them to see what we can find. Both the visual media and words are important to study as they supplement each other. Additionally, I believe it is important to study the narrative of video games as impressionable children play them. Video games are very popular and played by various people all over the world. There has to be something about them that makes them so popular, and it is possible what makes them so popular are the narratives.

After I made my character, I chose Aurora Glade as my location in the game, which is a mission outpost in the Maguuma Jungle. At first sight Aurora Glade is a dark and gloomy place filled with chaos, contrary to what one might expect given the name. The sky is a dark angry blue with pounding rain and threatening lightening. The houses in the village are on fire with smoke coming out of them, and there are Seraph soldiers defending Aurora Glade from the invading Centaurs. Although most dystopian worlds are set in the future, this one seems to be set sometime around the Middle ages. This is conveyed through the construction of the houses in Aurora Glade, and the choice of weaponry. The centaurs seem to be using bows and arrow, whereas some of the humans are using magic. As my character is human it is clear where my character’s loyalties lie. I am fighting on the side of the humans against the Charr. Personally, I do not want to be on either sides because they are both using violence and causing destruction.  

According to Guild Wars 2 history the once prosperous humans are now declining because of their war with the Charr, who have reclaimed their ancestral homeland of Ascalon from the humans. Upon learning of this, the theme of colonization is very prevalent to me. The producers of the game have painted the humans as the victims. Whereas upon a closer look the humans are the ones who originally invaded and colonized the land, and it is now being taken back from them. I have no doubt the humans will be triumphant at the end of this game as is the case in the real world. 

This made me think of two instances from the real world. The first is how humans have industrialized the landscape regardless of the wildlife that was once there. This has led to many species of wildlife becoming extinct and some endangered. The second is how European settlers have colonized most of the world. For instance, in Canada Indigenous people have been relocated to reserves and some are living homeless and in poverty in cities. It is as Longan says “like traditional landscapes, video game landscapes incorporate the moral ideologies of their producers.” Guild Wars 2, like many other video games, is “[reinforcing] the dominant ideologies that govern the production of real world landscapes” (Longan). This game is not bringing anything new to the conversation. It is simply reiterating the dominant narrative of Western colonization and industrialization.  

References

Longan, M. W. (2008). Playing with landscape: social process and spatial form in video games. Aether, 2.